Tuesday, March 23, 2010

A U.N. conference rejected on Sunday trade restrictions on red and pink corals used in jewelery in what environmentalists called a new setback for endangered marine species.

Delegates at the 175-nation meeting of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) in Doha failed to back a U.S. and European Union proposal to limit trade in 31 species of corals, found from the Pacific to the Mediterranean.

Other endangered marine species the nations of the world voted not to protect included bluefin tuna, and sharks. Iceland joined Tunisia, Libya and Japan in blocking the motion to protect coral.

In the this photo which I took in December, a Chinese tourists inspects endangered Mediterranean red coral on display in Alexandria, Egypt. The waterfront was lined with a dozen other such tables where hawkers sold shells and coral.